I had the pleasure of welcoming Doug Singleton and the guys from Vermont aboard the Lady Diane on today.  I had met Doug a fews years ago while mating aboard another charter boat.  Doug and all the guys that fish with him  are as hard core fisherman as you will ever meet.  When the boat stops they are ready to fish all day long.   I was hoping for a big day for them as they traveled a long ways to fish with me and we had perfect weather conditions for a change.

We departed Hampton Harbor at 0545 and stopped on the inshore grounds hoping that the whale cod where there.  When I throttled back at 0615 I was dismayed to see that already there were 23 other boats on the grounds.  Past experienced has taught me when these fish are under heavy pressure they tend to scatter and will not bite.  We spent just about an hour looking around. as the inshore fleet continued to build, but I never found a mark that I liked.  A little after 0700 we pulled up the lines and steamed at 28kts (the water was as flat as you ever see it) out to the offshore grounds.

I stopped initially on the inside of the bank where the day before the local party boats had a big day.  Doug, whom I like to call the Gentle Giant as he is a mountain of a man, assumed the best spot on the boat on the front bow deck. 

Although we put a few market cod in the boat I decided to head east to a spot where the day before we had a good bite.  It was definitely the right move as all three of guys started sticking nice market cod for the next few hours.  Although not a slam job the bite was worth staying with and being the machines these guys are, I immediately put on the wristers and starting cutting fish.

Around 1300  I decided to head farther northeast and try an area I fished earlier in the year on Jeffreys Ledge.  The guys took their first break of the day while we took the  short thirty minute ride.  The tide was still running pretty good when we arrived and as soon as the jigs hit bottom they were taken by both cod and the first haddock of the day.

The biggest excitement of the day was when Doug tied into something very very big.  The 80 lb class rod he was using bent like a pretzel and drag started being taken.  It was not a Porbegal shark  as the run was much more dogged.  If I had to guess I would say either a monster whale cod, possibly foul hooked or a halibut.  Doug, being an experienced fisherman, handled the fish beautifully but after about eight minutes the hook pulled.  We were all disappointed but personally I was pleased to see that the equipment I provide and the  way I have  rigged it ,  that my guests will be able to handled the biggest fish we are likely to ever encounter while ground fishing.  All we needed was a little more luck and I believe Doug would have landed the biggest  fish of his life but thats why we all love offshore fishing...you never know when that chance is going to happen or what you will encounter while on the grounds.

Around 1430 we started noticing vast schools of bait beginning to run on the surface and within and hour as far as the eye could in all directions were bait schools popping up.  I had brought the 50 wide in case a porbeagle was in the area but this bait was not being pushed by anything.  It was so good to see the bait on the ledge as the Giant Tunas will not be far behind.  I plan on putting the 130s on the boat next week and take a break from chartering and pull some bars looking for  "Charlie" ....the greatest game fish of all.

We decided to call it a day around 1430 and headed for the barn.  I cut fish for about an forty five minutes and then put the hammer down and we landed in Hampton around 1815. It was a longer trip than normal but I enjoyed fishing with these guys so much that I decided we will go home when we were done fishing...and thats what we did.

The guys limited out on cod and  loaded around 100 lbs of cod and 20 lbs of haddock  fillets into their coolers.  We made plans to try again later in the season and I am sure the "Gentle Giant "and his crew will come back with a vengeance and stick em hard all over again.

Tight lines,

Capt. George